A track renewal project at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum has opened up a temporary unobstructed view of the fireman's side of 4-4-0 William Crooks, the first locomotive in Minnesota. The locomotive was constructed in 1861 by Smith and Jackson of the New Jersey Locomotive and Machine Company of Paterson, NJ. The locomotive was named for William Crooks, Chief Mechanical Engineer of Great Northern predecessor St. Paul and Pacific and Colonel of the Sixth Regiment, MN Volunteers, in the Civil War.
